NOV 2013
CARA DELEVINGNE Born Lucky
DESSIE JACKSON Philly Artist
ARTIC Artic MONKEYS MonkeysLove California
ISSUE Dessie Jackson
Lana Del Rey
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Cara Delevingne November 2013
NYLON N
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O V
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Dessie Jackson
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Cara Delevingne
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November 2013
Dream Works
Lana Del Rey
Artic Monkeys
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49
Angus & Julia Stone
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43
Andrew Garfield
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Hunter & Gatti
Wild Child
John Mayer
Table of Contents
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Images by Dessie Jackson 3
November 2013
Philly Artist: Dessie Jackson By Blair Monroe
I met Dessie Jackson outside of a party last month. Instead of waiting in line for the doors to open, we decided to head over to the bar next door to grab a beer and chat. We talked about mutual friends, our shared love for summer time in Philly, and Jackson briefly mentioned her artistic ability. Upon entering the party, I quickly realized how modest she had been about her skills. Through out the evening she was approached by multiple party goers, fans even, who praised her for her work. Jackson’s pieces have certainly been attracting attention. She has recently been featured in Complex and JUMP Magazine. She was commissioned to create the cover art for Gilbere Forte‘s single “Nolita”, and she was chosen to design a T-shirt for The Hundreds. I should also mention that Jackson is a full-time student at Tyler School of Art. To say that she’s got a full plate would certainly be an understatement. A few weeks after the party, I headed over to Jackson’s apartment to get a look at her creative space. The walls of her living room were adorned with large canvases filled with these evocative and striking images of women. As we kicked back, we spoke about her subjects, her musical inspiration, and the real life situations that evoke her artistic vision:
Dessie Jackson
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NYLON: If you had to describe your style in one word what
to school in Philadelphia. But it produces a peace of mind. The
would it be?
most inspirational places there are where I can’t see sidewalks, or
Dessie Jackson: Tender: the feeling. Not the “How would you like
tall buildings, or cigarette butts and wrappers.
your meat?” tender-type. None of that. However, I need that grit that you can only find in cities. I love NYLON: What are the themes that you pursue in your
Philadelphia. To appreciate one is to appreciate the other. My
creations?
other favorite fantastical place that I have never actually been to
DJ: I’m intrigued with the “beautiful” with a slight quirkiness and
but need, need, need to go is to Japan. That is my dreamland.
sometimes darkness. I’d say that my work so far is a collection of contemporary subjects, beauty, and femininity rolled in one. In
NYLON: What’s your goal professionally?
these themes, there are footprints and traces of fashion, music,
DJ: To inspire- which might sound kind of cheesy but at the end
and modern lifestyle and trends. I’m still exploring and I’m still
of the wday if my work aids to some ones inspiration- art or not,
trying to figure out what my work is saying. That’s the beauty of
I feel like that’s worth it. I want to play in all the fields that the art
it, I don’t know if I’ll ever figure it out.
world offers and I want to play in the fields that it doesn’t. I don’t want my work to ever be defined or for myself to ever be branded
NYLON: What
into a specific box. I want to do
music do you listen to
it all.
while you work? DJ: I catch myself going
NYLON: What’s a real life sit-
through serious genre phases.
uation that has inspired you?
Currently I can’t go wrong
DJ: People inspire me more
with Tiger’s Jaw, Whirr, and
so then particular situations.
Frightened Rabbit. Lyrics are
People who work hard. Those
important. I find some of my
that are pursuing what they
pieces changing direction
want to do in life and what they
depending on what sound I
enjoy in life- that inspires me to
surround myself with.
keep working. And I’m not really
However, you can always
referring to any public leader or
catch me listening to the
artist or celebrity, that isn’t as
corniest pop punk albums
impressive as people who work
available if I’m laying down
hard for no publicity or no praise.
gesso or preparing any kind
Anything pure is inspiring.
of surface. That is guaranteed.
Once I went home to Lancaster’s First Friday and was walking with a few friends, we passed a group
NYLON: You recently created the album art for Gilbere Forte’s single “Nolita”,
of younger girls and a friend heard my name… The girls walked
what was that process like?
past us a few steps, turned around and yelled, “We love your
DJ: I loved being able to work with Gilbere and attempt to portray
work!” That ruled. I still think of that. They are inspiring. That
his Nolita. It began with me sitting down and listening to what I
was an incredible feeling.
felt “Nolita” was about and who she was. Then after, brainstorming and creating many drafts with Mr. Forte to truly capture this
NYLON: What super power do you want and why?
being he describes. In doing so, I wanted Nolita’s features, her
DJ: I mean, who wouldn’t wanna fly? Or pull some “I Dream of
expression and the materials used, to all act as one and to em-
Jeannie” trickery? Now, being able to physically survive and
body that raw love/hate relationship. It was a truly phenomenal
function without sleep. That is truly a super power I would love
experience to pair visual art with sound.
to have. Imagine all those hours free to do whatever you please or go wherever you wish- guilt free with no time res
NYLON: What’s your favorite or most inspirational place?
traints whatsoever. I could make all the work and play with all the
Lancaster- my hometown where I was born and raised. Ironi-
pugs and run around and dance at 4 am. I mean, don’t get me
cally, I haven’t produced any work there since I moved out to go
wrong, I’d do this… but then you wont see me till 2pm.
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November 2013
Dessie Jackson
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Styled by Kate Phelan. Photographed by David Bailey. 8
November 2013
Cara Delevingne
Born Lucky By Violet Henderson Pharrell Williams is the music producer with the midas touch; Cara Delevingne is fashion’s golden girl. When Vogue brings them together, the couple are utterly dazzling.
The most desirable music producer on the planet is standing before me in nothing but camouflage boxer shorts, which do little in the way of hiding. Pharrell Williams, 40, may not have a six-pack, but he is far from flabby. His diamond earrings glint in the sunlight and he is smiling. This is a man with a very legitimate claim to happiness: at the time of going to press, “Get Lucky”, his collab-
oration with Daft Punk, is number one in more than 20 countries. Its only competition for
summer-anthem status is “Blurred Lines”, the tune he produced for Robin Thicke - in the video for which he cavorts with models in white lingerie (or none, depending on which version you watch). But for now, Pharrell is thinking of different things, looping his hand behind his neck and asking, ever so politely, “Can you see my pubes?”
Pharrell isn’t the only semi-naked beauty in the room. Cara Delevingne, the
girl with eyes so piercing they induce global hysteria, is also dressed only in her knickers. We are backstage at David Bailey’s studio in west London,
between takes. Cara is on the phone, which she holds beneath her chin on loudspeaker. She is discussing the night before with a seemingly endless
rotation of friends. Pharrell - or, as Bailey insists on calling him, “Farall” is more subdued. He got off a plane from New York yesterday evening, performed on The Graham Norton Show, hosted a business dinner, and after this has another photo shoot for one of his three clothing
labels, Billionaire Boys Club. I ask him if he is tired. “I am in agony,” he says, with a smile that is peace incarnate.
The musician is relentlessly polite, calling everyone on set “sir” or “ma’am”. When Bailey kicks out two members of his entourage
- an assistant and a bodyguard the size of two people - Pharrell
shrugs his shoulders and says that’s just fine. He is not exuber-
ant, nor is he a talker. In front of Bailey’s lens he is relaxed and obedient, interested by the legendary portrait-taker’s instruc-
tions; any flamboyance he leaves to Cara, who bends and twists her lithe body like a ribbon around him. And yet his presence
is as striking as a million lightbulbs each burning at a thousand watts. He has that peculiar sort of charisma that just is. Cara Delevingne
9
I’d just signed this girl called Kelis, and
on boys and girls. It also helps that he can
making music, working, making music.
Polo, because that was the thing. And
great.” When Pharrell has analysed his
will.” “It” began at band camp, in Pharrell’s
back then all I wore was Ralph Lauren’s Kelis turned to me and said, ‘You’ve got to get out of this box.’
Pharrell got into fashion 15 or so years ago, he recalls. “I’d just signed this girl
called Kelis, and back then all I wore was Ralph Lauren’s Polo, because that was
put on anything, and both it and he look
own outfit, he moves on to whatever Cara is wearing. He campaigns to keep her in
a red-checked skirt because “against the black-check shirt the colour pops really
nicely”. The whole room looks around, surprised, and the red-checked skirt remains.
the thing. And Kelis turned to me and said,
Sphinx-like, with wide-set eyes, long
introduced me to Prada and Gucci. It was
smile, Pharrell is remarkable looking. He
‘You’ve got to get out of this box.’ She
thanks to Kelis I discovered a life outside of monograms.”
Billionaire Boys Club celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. “It’s insane,” says
Pharrell of the line, which sells everything from cotton tops to crystal-emblazoned
bomber jackets. He also helms a T-shirt
and trainer brand called Icecream, and Bil-
eyelashes and a mouth that flirts with a
could be the sum of a number of races,
but his ethnicity is “black, black, black”, he
says, only to add that the colour of his skin does not define who he is. Higher on his
skin agenda are wrinkles: he attributes his curious absence of them to “being cognisant - I wash my face with Cetaphil and cold water”.
lionaire Girls Club - although he modestly
If the rapper didn’t exude his marketable
It’s when Vogue’s Kate Phelan puts him
charged with being effeminate. Instead, he
describes himself as “just a details man”. in a pair of Prada socks that he loses his
cool. To most people - even fashion people - these would just be a pair of nice white
socks; to Pharrell they are a masterwork
of silk and perfect seams. His assistant is
charged with buying a bag of them as soon as the shoot is over.
Once the Vogue team has dressed him in
each new look, Pharrell checks the mirror. But he doesn’t come over a peacock: he isn’t pulling in his belly or pouting. He is
looking at trouser length and width, collar
height, whether or not he should roll up his sleeves. He asks where each item comes from, and discusses the ways he might wear them in everyday life. He says he
brand of overt sexuality, he could be
gives off the palpable sense he is assess-
ing you in the same way he might a gyrating ass in a music video. He is liberal with
the compliments, interrupting me mid-sentence to say “you have these enormous
pupils” - a disconcertingly niche detection.
It hasn’t stopped being like this. It never
high-rise, low-income hometown of Virginia
Beach. Here, aged 12, he learnt to play the string drum in an orchestra which per-
formed “The Flight of the Bumblebee”. He also made a buddy, Chad Hugo, and the
two of them got to making tracks on their
own aged “17 or 18” - “it was so long ago,” he laughs, “I can hardly remember now”. They were discovered by Teddy Riley of
Blackstreet fame. Pharrell and Chad then merged to become the Neptunes, a pro-
duction duo that worked with Kelis, Jay-Z,
Justin Timberlake. The musician, who now lives in Miami and works every day in his home studio, says: “I don’t have a social
life. Because what is that but drama?” In
August 2003, a survey calculated that he
had produced 20 per cent of all the music
played on British radio, a figure which rose
to 43 per cent in America. In 2006, Pharrell
went solo with his own Grammy-nominated album, In My Mind, and has also written the film soundtracks for Despicable Me
and Despicable Me 2, which was released this summer. “It doesn’t matter if I make
music on my own or with other people, I am just as thankful for its appreciation.”
But none of this is anything more than play,
Pharrell’s genius is the happy sort, which
who sings about lap dances and girls who
about anything,” he says. “Why would I?
part of the DNA of a global sex symbol
“like to move”. As of last year, Pharrell is engaged to Helen Lasichanh, a model
and fashion designer with whom he has a four-year-old son, Rocket. Wife-to-be and
child are strictly off-limits for this interview, but Pharrell later refers to his son as his “greatest co-production”.
sleeps well at night. “I never feel anxious If I felt anxious or put pressure on myself
then nothing would be fun.” The only time he came near to stage fright was “feeling a little overwhelmed” when he walked on stage to perform the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” with Dave Matthews,
Vince Gill and Sting at the 2004 Grammy
Awards. But it turned out to be the perfor-
loves to customise his clothes and that he
It doesn’t matter if I make music on my
and that. “Fashion sets Pharrell’s mood,”
thankful for its appreciation.
I never feel anxious about anything. Why
director of HOUSE AND HOLME. “He is
Away from the distraction of clothes rails,
myself then nothing would be fun.
one in music. A magpie of ideas… Which is
success as the culmination of “a steady
is constantly getting his scissors out on this says Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, creative
stylistically brave. Really braver than any-
why he casts such a big fashion influence 10
November 2013
own or with other people, I am just as
Pharrell considers his music-industry
grind of working, making music, working,
mance he enjoyed most of his career.
would I? If I felt anxious or put pressure on According to Rihanna, it’s Pharrell’s
“unique perspective” that makes him a
superstar, and that he creates “music that
Cara Delevinge
2
feels good”. And, in fact, his own motto,
“Keep talent loyal to creativity”, is essen-
tially a pledge to his instinct. This is a man who is absolutely certain of how he sees
and hears the world, and what exactly he wants from it. So when he makes a track
he thinks about groove, pace, beats, lyrics
all working together. The king of analogies, he throws me one to explain his creative process: “It’s impossible to make steam without heat and water.” Unfortunate-
ly, what may seem to him as simple as
turning on a kettle gets me no closer to producing a hit record.
Today Cara is singing. A lot. You’d be
forgiven for thinking she was at an audition rather than a photo shoot and quite a few Pharrell songs are in the mix. She has a
good voice, and all the confidence to pull
it off. “I was so excited about working with him,” she says. “He inspires me so much. I went on tour with Rihanna recently and ‘Blurred Lines’ was blasted from the bus
to get everyone singing,” she says, before breaking into song. Although Pharrell per-
sonally requested to be photographed with Cara today, initially, interaction between the two is limited. But then Bailey plays
Bob Dylan’s “Spirit on the Water” and the three of them dance together, clicking
“ I went on tour
with Rihanna recently and ‘Blurred Lines’ was blasted from the bus to get everyone singing.
their heels in unison. When they finally
return back behind the clothes rails, the
pair share a cheeseburger at the make-
shift make-up station and bond over Miley Cyrus - Cara’s friend and “like a sister” to Pharrell. They find they share a similar
musical outlook. Pharrell says he’d like to hear her material. He goes on to tell the room, how, when he met Cara only for
a few minutes at this year’s Met Ball, he
picked up on her good energy. Pharrell, an Aries, is big on energy.
Before they leave, they swap numbers,
kiss goodbye and promise to meet again soon. Chances are, next time it may be music which brings them together.
Cara Delevingne
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